Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Kashmiri member of ISIS claims to be working for 'NGO'

NAME: Adil FayazAGE: 26FROM: Srinagar; last living in AustraliaEDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION: MBASTATUS: Family says working with NGO in Turkey
It was a tip-off from the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation on youths there lured by the Islamic State that first put authorities on the trail of Adil Fayaz.
In 2010, his family had taken a Rs 20 lakh loan to finance his MBA
from Queensland University. They say it was the search for a job, when
he didn’t get one in Australia after the course, that took him to
Turkey. He has the distinction of being one of the few Indian-origin jihadis to have entered Syria via Jordan.

“He is working with an NGO. He often calls home, he is in regular
touch,” insisted Adil’s father Fayaz Ahmad Vaid, overseeing the repair
of his home in an upscale Srinagar colony, damaged in last year’s
floods. The family is from Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar. Inclined towards religion since child, Adil worked in a call centre in
Mumbai immediately after passing his Class XII exams to make it big in
the life.

It was only briefly that they lost contact with him, Vaid added, and
that was during the flooding of the city. “Our house had got damaged and
we had to leave here. Later, he called us,” Vaid said.
Since the allegations against Faiz surfaced in August 2014, bringing
officials from various security agencies to their doorstep, Vaid said,
he regularly asks his son about the charges. “His reply is he is working
with an NGO and hasn’t joined the IS.” He said he doesn’t know which
NGO.

“Security officials visit us regularly. the last time some people
from intelligence came, we told them Faiz is in Turkey and that we don’t
know anything else.”
Vaid said the 26-year-old, who graduated in business administration before doing an M Com from Kashmir
University, never showed any interest in the conflict in Syria or Gaza,
or discussed it with his family. While he was very religious, saying
namaz five times a day, he wasn’t rigid about it, relatives said.

After doing his MBA from Australia, he visited the family in Kashmir
in 2013. “Initially he looked for a job in Australia or Malaysia but
couldn’t get one. He also applied for jobs in countries like Qatar,
Dubai and Turkey. He told us he had got a good job in Turkey,” Vaid
said.
Their last conversation with Adil before he left the Valley, the father added, was about marriage. Now he can’t come back home any time soon, Vaid fears. “Not until his name is cleared.”

Senior home ministry officials say Adil was radicalised by Islamic
fundamentalists in Australia. He then, they say, left for Turkey and
entered Syria via Jordan to join jihadists in the civil war in June
2013. Although his family claims Adil is working for an NGO in Turkey to
help Syrian refugees, they don’t have the name of the NGO or its phone
number. Their son talks to them on voice over internet protocol (VoIP).

Adil’s family — his father is a businessman and the family runs a
local supermarket — denies his involvement in any jihadi movement. “He
is working in Turkey and is in regular touch with us. Even last night we
were speaking to him on Skype till 3am,” a family member told HT,
requesting anonymity.
“If the home ministry has such information, why weren’t we told? Adil
is not missing, neither is he a jihadi. If the government has proof,
they should show it,” he said.
“Besides, if he is involved in any such activity, we wouldn’t know.
One can’t vouch for people living at home, Adil lives so far away.”
Born on March 1, 1989, Adil attended an English medium school in
Srinagar. After completing his BBA, he went to Australia in 2009, where
he did his MBA and masters in commerce. The family last saw him in June
2013, when, according to them, he left for Malaysia to join an
Australian NGO working with Syrian refugees in Turkey. “He has promised
to return this October,” his relative said. As of December 2015 he has not.

In November 2015, he had a conversation with his brother in which he said, "I may not return immediately. Maybe, one day, I will Inshaallah (God willing). He (Adil) always wanted a secure job. He would say he
would travel business class in flights rather than economy class one
day,” recalls Kamil, who is in a denial mode that his brother has joined
the IS ranks.

Kamil said Adil still prefers to wear
Western outfits and comes across as “calm with no signs of desperation
whatsoever” when he contacts his family on the Skype once in a while. “Though
he has grown serious in his conversations and keeps advising on praying
five times a day and returning to the Quran,” said Kamil.

He
said there was nothing that makes the family believe that Adil is an IS
recruit, as the security agencies informed them in 2014.

“He
(Adil) says he is working with an NGO and functions from Turkey and did
help people in Syria with medical aid,” recollected Kamil from a
conversation the family had with him after he was declared an IS
recruit.

However, the family admits that he does not
keep a permanent cell phone and uses Internet cafes from different
locations to reach the family on the Skype. Besides, he did mention
travelling to Ar Raqqa, IS’s capital situated in Syria, to the family.

“He
(Adil) seems to be changing places. Mostly, he says he is in Turkey.
Once I saw kids playing on his lap, whom he introduced his friend’s. He
loves kids and makes it a point to wish on festivals like Eid,” said
Kamil. There are pointers to Adil working with the
International Aid for the Syrian People, which is a non-combatant group
functioning in Syria but with sympathies for the IS.

The
family said “introvert, shy and religious” Adil moved more towards
Islam in Australia between 2009 and 2012.

“Once he returned from
Australia, he was sporting a flowing beard as per Islamic teachings,”
said Kamil.

Security agencies believe that Adil was
radicalised during his association with the Australian Street Dawah,
which promotes Islam in Australia. Once when Adil’s
mother and father broke down and made an emotional appeal to him to
return, Adil retorted: “People here (Syria) need help. You have a son to
take care of [you]. They have none here. I work like a doctor and
provide medical care.”

The family claims Adil, a
voracious online reader of news and views, went to Malaysia too but the
security agencies believe that he travelled to Jordan and Turkey before
entering Syria in June 2013. What gives the family a
sinking feeling is the fact he never talks about returning to Kashmir
and defends what is happening in Syria and Iraq. “The Western media is
lying about what is happening in this region. No one is zaalim (barbarian) there,” he told the family once.

Another
enigma that the family grapples with: “He could have joined the
militant groups in Kashmir. He never did that. He never showed interest.
In fact, in Kashmir, he always wanted a secure job.” The enigma is true
of the security agencies too in Kashmir, which remain on the edge with
the IS flags coming up frequently during street protests.

As
General Officer Commanding (GoC), 16 Corps, Gen. R. R. Nimbhorkar on
Thursday ruled out “signs of presence of IS in Jammu and Kashmir”, the
police too have no pointers to believe that the group is able to make
any recruitment from the conflict-ridden Valley after Adil.